A good deal for ethnic groups from fair trade scheme

With big bunches of bananas on their backs, it takes Marie Y Thuong and her six-year-old daughter seven hours to walk from their village to the Saint Paul de Chartres convent in Kontum City.

But itâ€™s a journey Marie is happy to make, because she gets a fair deal when she exchanges her bananas for other food staples there.

â€śFor each hand of bananas, we get five loaves of bread, two bottles of soft drink, a package of instant noodles and 20 kilos of rice,â€ť she says.Â â€śThe nuns also give us bags of second-hand clothes and weâ€™re given meals, salt, fish sauce, sweets and money before returning home.â€ť

This makes a welcome change for the 34-year-old mother of four, who cultivates bananas on a 1,500 square meter holding. Like other members of the Bahnar ethnic group, she used to take her produce to a local market where the wholesalers paid the barest minimum for it.

â€śWe had no option but to sell our products at those prices,â€ť she says. â€śBut it meant we couldnâ€™t even afford to pay for basic necessities.â€ť

The nuns at Saint Paul de Chartres have been operating their fair trade scheme since 2009. Â As well as bananas, they accept cassava, melons, bamboo shoots and other fruits for exchange.